I absolutely love (what is it with all the superlatives tonight, anyhow?) that Sawyer is remembering his con-man roots on the island while putting a more law-abiding spin on them in the Flash Sideways.

Bonus points for his double-crossed lover being the one calling him nicknames (“Jimmy”, “Dimples”) while he plays it straight.

All the great back-and-forth between James & Miles as cops was just the culmination of the 3-year (island time) storyline of those two characters as Security forces for The Others. Fun stuff. I’d watch a cop show spin-off with those two in a Flash sideways universe. Totally.

And the best bit is the re-con.

Sawyer playing both sides on the island but always remaining loyal to his end goal: leaving the island. Sure that’s a change from the recent past but now that Juliet is dead, it’s the logical next step. And I thought he seemed really sick of Kate at the beginning of the episode, but that turned out to be another example of his poker face.

James working tirelessly to catch Sawyer/Anthony Cooper is (maybe?) more evidence of a changed man. A single, solitary mission to find the man who ruined/changed his life forever, but doing so as a Cop, not a Crook. Is that really a change from his Plane Crash self or is it more evidence that people can’t change?

I don’t really know, but I’m inclined to think that it points out a universal truth of the show: people cannot change their fates (the things that happen TO them) but they can change how they respond; the choices they make. The choices themselves don’t seem to change that much, but it’s the journey, not the destination. 😉

In both cases, Sawyer leans on an old friend. Miles in the Flash Sideways (only to be hit by a fleeing Kate) and Kate on the island.

She’s a broken record. A raw nerve. A reactionary animal with no forethought or insight into her own responses.

She’s all immediate action and woe over what has happened to her. Blech!

But tonight’s Sawyer story really spoke to me. It showed something more than the other Flash Sideways stories (in my opinion). It showed me that these characters, even when they’re pursuing the EXACT same goal (revenge, in this case), can CHANGE. Their fates might not be different at all (that is the things that happen to them, the circumstances and situations) but their CHOICES can be completely 180 degrees different.

Ok, enough on that.

I want to throw out one last, weird thought.

During Not Locke’s discussion with Kate, he mentions having a crazy mother and having to come to terms with his Mommy issues. First, most of the characters (aside from Kate) have Daddy issues (Kate has Mommy issues/*is* creating a Mommy issue for Aaron). Second, the mention of Mothers made me think of the following literary reference:

I don’t know where I’m going with that allusion, but there you have it.

Oh, let me mention one other small thing. Miles mentioned his Dad works at a museum and that’s how he hooked James up with Charlotte. If Miles’ Dad in the Flash Sideways is Dr. Halliwax, then just what kind of museum is that?